ELECTION - Obasanjo Warns Against Handing Over To Military

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned against a rumoured plot by the current administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to  handover to the military, adding that such act will undermine the integrity of Nigeria among the comity of nations.

He said this on Tuesday at his Hilltop presidential residence in Abeokuta  while playing host to the South-West women of the All Progressives Congress, led by the Hajia Aisha Buhari, the wife of the party’s presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

Obasanjo, who noted that he was happy that the country had gone beyond the rumour of having an Interim National Government, however warned that he hoped the country would also survive the rumour of handing over to the military.

He said, “I do hope we will get things more right. A lot of rumours are flying around, I think we have gone away from the rumour of interim government because that is not in our constitution.

“I hope we will soon go away from the rumour of handing over to the military because the military is not meant to run affairs of a nation in terms of running government.”

Obasanjo said if the country should fall into this trap, the international community would not condone it.

According to him, Nigeria has all it takes to dictate the pace for other countries in Africa, adding that Nigerians should blame themselves for where it is today.

He said, “The intentional community will not condone it, particularly African Union, where we have a situation. We have said and it is part and parcel of the constituting act of the African Union.  Any government that is brought about, not on the basis of the constitution, will not be accepted, will not be tolerated and will not be a member of the AU until that government is dismantled.

“It shouldn’t be. We are the largest country in Africa. We should be a model, setting examples; we shouldn’t be drawing Africa backward. I hope we will not. I hope at the end of this exercise, we would be where we should be, leading Africa and showing examples for the rest of Africa and indeed the rest of the world.

“We have the goodwill of many people. I watched last night, President (Barack) Obama talking about our constitution. I watched out brother from Ghana,  the current Chairman of ECOWAS, talked about our constitution. They are all interested, they all wish us well. Should we wish ourselves anything less?”

Recently, the former President had warned the current administration not to plunge the country into chaos by following the footsteps of the former President of Cote d’lvoire, Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to handover to the winner of the presidential election, after he had lost.

Obasanjo also condemned hate campaigns among politicians, advising that they should focus more on what unites the country as opposed to what divides the country.

According to him, for anyone who is interested in the future of this country, issues of insecurity, economy, employment, among others should form the focus of political campaign.